


A Piece of Sunset

by madamebadger



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Backstory, F/F, Fancy Words Meme, Flirting, Friendship, Gen, Wistful
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-12
Updated: 2015-02-12
Packaged: 2018-03-12 02:19:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,365
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3339941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madamebadger/pseuds/madamebadger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>"Flatterer." But there was a curl of enjoyment in Josie's voice, so Leliana persisted.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Piece of Sunset

**Author's Note:**

> I’m honestly not sure whether to tag it as a pairing or not: it is somewhere between friendship and romance, and even “unrequited” isn’t exactly right. So I’ll just say “Josie and Leliana and flirting” and leave it at that.
> 
> Also, I am taking as a given that people don’t actually all wear the same clothes all the time in Skyhold, especially Josephine, who presumably has an array of clothing for different visiting dignitaries and events.
> 
> Written for the prompt "Sphallolalia - Flirtatious talk that leads nowhere."

“Do you like it?” Josie gave a little turn; the hem of the skirt flared in a graceful curve, showing off a complimentary (but not matching--Josie knew her game well enough to not be too overwhelmingly matchy) pair of suede slippers. She was lovely, and she knew how to dress herself, and others, to best effect. The gown was quite modest, high-necked and long-sleeved, but its rich wine-red color suited her and the cut was perfect: not so tight as to be inappropriate, but fitted so impeccably that it flattered her figure to no end. No jewelry beyond her chain-of-office and a demure pair of studs in her ears, so as not to appear frivolous or decadent, but so much implied richness in the fabric and craftsmanship of the gown to lend a certain importance and weight to her presence. Perfect.

Josie was very good at giving the appearance of modesty, and indeed she _was_ in many ways more modest than she perhaps should be, but Leliana knew her well enough to know the glimmer in her eye: she was aware she looked good. "You look marvelous," Leliana said anyway. "New?"

"It arrived last week, but I only today finally had time to have the adjustments made." Josie's fingers slipped over the embroidered panel at the front of the dress's bodice. "I always feel a little guilty at the expense, but--"

"Nonsense." Leliana fell into step with her. "Presenting a good image to your visitors is a part of your job, and you know they will judge you on how you look and dress--however much we might wish it were not so, it _is_ so. In keeping up appearances you are only doing you job."

"True."

"Mind, Josie, wearing a potato sack belted with string, you would provide a better image than most do in their finest clothes."

"Flatterer." But there was a curl of enjoyment in Josie's voice, so Leliana persisted.

"One might even say that you have an unfair advantage. But then, I have always been fond of unfair advantages."

"How you do go on," Josie said. She sighed. "It is a shame that I cannot think of some excuse to get _you_ into a pretty dress."

"It does not suit my work, or for that matter, the image that _I_ am trying to project."

"I know." Josie's expression flickered, just slightly, like a breeze rippling still water. Leliana knew that Josie was not quite comfortable with her work, which... well. Most people weren't, she was fully aware. "But I can't help but remember--oh, it was so many years ago, when I was still at school--the salon. I can't remember who was giving it now. But it was back when that terrible fashion for bustles was at its greatest height--"

Leliana made a face. "That was not the finest hour for Val Royeaux's couture houses, no."

"--and you arrive wearing that daring dress, you remember, not only no bustle but _thin_ too, cut so close to the body. You must remember. The silk one that was dyed in fine gradations from pale blue at the shoulders to nearly black at the hem? And--"

"Glittery beads--seed pearls?--near the hem," Leliana said, remembering now which salon Josephine meant. 

"And a gold fillet on your hair." Josephine sighed. "You walked into the room and it was like a piece of sunset had taken human form to join us, and I would swear everyone else in the room--man and woman--looked so fussy and overdone next to you. No one could stop staring. --And of course that set a new fashion for little dresses, which didn't suit other people nearly as well either."

"One must dress the body one has. Most of them never did learn that, chasing from one fashion to another." She let her eyes slide deliberately over Josie's form, the cut of the dress flattering the swell of her hip, the dip of her waist, her enticing combination of strong proud spine and softer curves. "You did, though."

"Mm." Josie was blushing, now, just a little.

"Wait," Leliana said. "I remember the salon, now that you mention it, but I didn't remember you being there. That was--oh, it must've been nearly fifteen years ago."

"Twelve." Josie's smile went wistful. "You would not have remotely noticed me. I was, what, sixteen, and awkward and plagued with spots, and you were a few years older and the toast of the town. I idolized you, you know. I wasn't sure if I wanted to _be_ you, or--well." There, again, that blush that looked so demure, belied by that glitter to her eye that meant she knew exactly what she was saying.

"It must've been such a disappointment when you finally got to know me properly," Leliana said, laughing.

"Not even a bit," Josephine said, with a slanting look and a warmth to her smile.

"Well, you might have been sixteen and awkward when I first met you, but you were nothing like when I met you later and even less so now. I think you are one of those people who will simply become more and more beautiful as time goes on, until you are eighty years old and entire nations fall helpless at your feet."

Josie laughed. "You really are too much, Leliana. And... I suppose I should not stall any longer before meeting with my honored guests." Her voice, as always, betrayed nothing inappropriateness, but Leliana knew her well enough to read the little wince around her eyes. Not her favorite of 'honored guests,' then.

"If you have time later, I have a bottle of decent Antivan wine. A gift from the Inquisitor. I take it she found it on a dead body, of all places."

"Lovely," Josie said. "Yes. But I may be quite late."

"You know where to find me," Leliana said, and Josie smiled and then swept into the receiving room, gracious and regal as a queen in her castle.

Leliana remembered, years before, when she and Josie had only recently renewed their acquaintance in Val Royeaux--after the dull soiree and the much better party, after a few other shared meals and trips to the dressmakers' district together--they had been taking tea in a cafe and Josie had looked at her, soft and sideways through her dark lashes in the way she had, and asked, "Leliana, are you flirting with me?"

She'd said it in the way she had, voice as light and dancing as the sun on the water, where you could brush it off as a joke or take it seriously as you preferred. She had taken it seriously, thought about it. Josie was very beautiful; it really was true that she seemed only to get more beautiful with time. And even then Leliana had begun to see the most alluring fact about her, which was not her face or her figure or even her remarkable eyes, but: where all young noblewomen cultivated an attitude of sweetness, Josie actually _was_ that sweet. Her kindness was not a facade. She was no pushover, nor a fool, nor was she unambitious, but somehow--somehow she had avoided what Leliana had considered an inevitable fate of those who dabbled in politics: she was not _hard_.

"I am... tempted to," Leliana had said slowly, and watched as the teasing look slipped quietly from Josie's eyes, replaced by serious attention. "But I think... right now I would rather have a friend. If that is all right?"

"Of course," Josie said. "I would be honored."

It was still true, Leliana thought, pushing herself back into motion, to climb the long stairs to the rookery. Now she certainly needed a friend more than a lover--and especially a friend like Josie, to bring a bit of warmth and color and above all gentleness to Leliana's current life, which could so easily slip into nothing but unspoken secrets and knives in the dark. 

The rest of it... the rest of it lodged, a bit of warmth golden as the sunset, hovering somewhere in her heart between 'once in a dream' and 'maybe someday.' And that was enough.


End file.
